All Dogs Go To Heaven

It's a sad day in our house.  This morning Joe and I took Zeus to the vet after making the tough decision to put him down.

Our sweet Zeus was a 10 1/2 year old Great Dane.  And yes, he was sweet to Joe and me.  To his owners he was loyal, loving and silly.

Sitting on the couch.

The problem with Zeus was that he had a lot of anxiety and was very territorial.  There were times when people walked into our home or yard unexpectedly for Zeus so he bit them.  You could argue that we should have put him down years ago but if you are a dog owner you probably know that decision is not easy to come by.  So each time it happened we vowed to be more careful.  Keep him away from people, keep the doors locked, etc., etc.  I even spoke to two Great Dane rescues months ago but they couldn't help us and one even told us putting him down might be the best decision.

Young Zeus

Keeping him away from Louis has gotten harder as Louis has grown.  Louis can open doors & baby gates.  And a few weeks ago Zeus bit Joe's dad when he walked into our backyard.  We took that as our final warning sign.  No more accidents.  It was time.

We took Zeus on his final walk last night and had lots of cuddle time.  Of course he got lots of complements on his beauty walking last night.

He enjoyed his car ride this morning.  The vet gave us time with him before they sedated him.  They gave us time again as he got sleepy and eventually fell asleep while Joe and I said our goodbyes.  We didn't stay for the euthanasia as the explanation on it sounded too sad to bear.

So we left our sweet Zeus behind and now he is in doggy heaven.  Solomon still isn't sure what is going on.  He wants to go on a walk & car ride like Zeus and keeps looking for his brother.  I gave him Zeus' collar which he smelled and licked for a while.  The Great Dane rescue told us change is really hard on old Danes.  We will see how he does without his brother.

My favorite story about the dogs is that when they were taken to Wayside Waifs at 1 1/2 they separated them.  The dogs stood on the concrete kennels looking out through the fencing at each other.  They were so bonded they had to be adopted together.

I'll end the post with an old picture of Solomon giving Zeus kisses.  I think he is much happier now in doggy heaven.

One Hot Summer

I feel like I'm slipping on blogging but am not surprised.  I am one of those people that gets really excited about something but I'm not the best at follow through.

Here's what we have been up to since we got back from South Dakota.

Cake Pops.  My friend Molly & I have been getting more & more cake pop orders.  You can read about some of them on our blog: http://kcpopparty.blogspot.com/ .

This is the display we did over the weekend for a whale party.

I've been pretty paranoid since I've been staying home with Louis that his learning & development pace had declined.  I was struggling with the balance between house work & Louis time.  I got a little boost of confidence at Wall Drug when I told him to count some horse posts he liked.  He surprised Joe, Aysha and me by counting to ten!  I couldn't believe it.  We've always counted with him but he has always just said, "two" when he counts.  I guess the little guy was just keeping his counting skills to himself.  Since then he has gone up to 16 by himself and up to twenty if we alternate saying numbers with him.

We had a great 4th of July at home this year!  Our neighborhood starts the day with a kid parade.  Those are the twins down the street I have been stalking since I found out they are Louis' age.

We have two super secret neighborhood parks.  They are in between a bunch of houses and there is a certain driveway you take to access them.  The little kids played on the swing set.

The big kids had a water slide...

And a dunk tank.

I know Joe wanted to participate but it's for kids only!

The neighborhood provided some food.  The watermelon was great for the heat.

We only allowed the hot dogs since it was a holiday.  If you know me, you know I LOVE hot dogs.  I don't eat them anymore after all the cancer stuff I read on them.  Call me crazy, I know.

Later we had a nice dinner outside followed by $5 worth of illegal fireworks around the fire pit.  I couldn't resist sharing the joy with Louis!

It was HOT!

SNAPPERS!

Louis enjoyed stomping on them.

Sparklers!

Fountains

Here are some other ways we have been staying cool.  I love the summer though so I'm not complaining!

Helping daddy build a window seat for all my toys!

We will be gearing up for a wedding in San Diego toward the end of the month without Louis.  I should have some good updates from that trip!

My Daddy Wrestles Alligators

You know that Train song where, "her daddy wrestles alligators"?  Well, that is true for me.  Or was true way before I was born.  It's not like we are rednecks or anything.  There is a place in Rapid City, South Dakota where my dad & three out of five siblings worked called Reptile Gardens.

Dad back in his day.

My dad followed by his little brother, Frank "Gator" Lux wrestled alligators there and did the snake show.  Do you know how cool I thought this was when I was a kid?

My dad & Frank

We got special treatment at the show.  The wrestlers had heard about the "Lux Boys". 

The Reptile Gardens just had it's 75th anniversary so we decided to take a vacation to see family.  We brought my niece, Aysha, since she had not been to South Dakota.

It was pretty fun as South Dakota really is one of the best states for a family vacation.  We couldn't fit all the things I wanted to do in such a short trip so some will be saved for Louis' next trip.  

We visited...

Mount Rushmore.  Notice the stroller.  I forgot my baby carrier and Louis was mid nap.  The stroller proved to be super annoying.

Crazy Horse which looks the same as when I was here in 7th grade.

Storybook Island

I have tons of old pics of my cousins and me here.

I wish all of the cousins could have been back for this pic!

Reptile Gardens

My dad & brother, Josh.

He is going to put his hand in the mouth to get it to snap.  My dad is the only wrestler that put his head in the mouths.  He did that until one started to shut and put a tooth through his cheek.

Little 2 year old croc.  They let my dad & Frank hold it for pics with the kids.  

Louis petting the snake.

The Chuckwagon where my super talented 17 year-old cousin plays the fiddle in the band.  This is the same cousin that was the lead in the Nutcracker last winter.  She is standing next to me in the pic.

Louis and Adeline

Aysha and Miyana.  New best cousin/friends.

On our way out of town we decided we hadn't had enough so we stopped at Wall Drug and took a ride through the Badlands National Park.   We started writing down license plates and got 42 out of 50 states.  That tells you how many people around the nation visit.  

It was a great trip and visits here always bring back great memories from when I was a kid.  I'm sure we've got many future trips back to look forward to.